Mr Uhuru Kenyatta has also declared his intention to vie for presidency in 2012. As expected, his loyalists are beating drums for him.

But what qualifies him to lead Kenya?

One needs to do something patriotic to deserve leadership. What has Uhuru done for Kenya to deserve leading it?

When Moi tyrannised Kenya, Uhuru, Kalonzo Musyoka, Musalia Mudavadi, William Ruto and others like them did nothing. Does this qualify Uhuru or Kalonzo for that matter, to lead Kenya?

Without a history of patriotic service, what special quality does Uhuru have? As far as I know, Uhuru has no intellectual superiority over Kenyans.

So, does Uhuru have a special vision that can liberate us from poverty? With his family’s empire built upon land it acquired when Kenyatta, his father, was president, Uhuru has never said he will return some of that land to the landless to blunt the pangs of their hunger.

Instead of living up to his name Uhuru, whenever he talks, I hear him pontificating against freedom. On matters of humanity, Uhuru’s heart seems as hard as a stone. Still, his supporters have reasons for wanting him to lead Kenya.

To begin with, he is a special Kikuyu whom all Kikuyus will support once he offers himself for election. And elections being a game of numbers, Uhuru thinks, support by a block vote of the populous Kikuyu qualifies him not just to vie, but to be the president of Kenya.

The other day on TV, I saw a lady called Wambui anoint Uhuru to succeed President Mwai Kibaki. She alluded to him as her husband – muthuri wakwa.

And of course, Kibaki’s support is assumed to be that of all Kikuyus, despite his failure to protect many of its members from post-election violence, and whose thousands of youth continue to suffer extrajudicial executions under his watch.

WITH MORE MONEY THAN MOST, Uhuru is a front runner for presidency in our politics. Sired by Mzee Kenyatta, many also believe Uhuru was born a leader. But fire does not always beget fire. It also begets ashes. Though Solomon was a great leader, his son Rehoboam became an unspeakable tyrant.

Other Kenyan women are also giving birth to sons. I don’t see Kibaki-Uhuru project selling more successfully than the Moi-Uhuru project.

Uhuru also has great hope for presidency because of his unfolding alliance with Mr Ruto, who may deliver a block Rift Valley vote to him.

For Uhuru and his community in Rift Valley however, doing an alliance with a majimboist like Ruto is like returning their finger where it has been bitten more than once.

Against their best interests, the aristocracy of Central Province might also anoint Uhuru as their ethnic chief. For this very reason, the rest of the country will most likely reject him as president of Kenya.

Only a Kikuyu who will put Kenya before Central Province, nation before tribe, is likely to lead Kenya again.

In seeking the presidency, Uhuru might sell himself as a protector of properties of ethnic elites who own, but not as distributor of national wealth to the poor who own nothing.

Uhuru believes he qualifies for presidency because he is young like Obama, and will mesmerise the youth who will embrace anything that is young and glitters.

Uhuru’s father led Kenya because he fought and suffered for her. Uhuru must do likewise.

Mr Wamwere is chair of Chama cha Mwananchi.

• Working towards a united Kenya by promoting understanding and co-operation among the Kenyan people
• Co-operating with other like minded organizations from all parts of the country towards national cohesion
• Preserving unity, welfare and togetherness among it's membership
• Preserving, promoting, conserving and refining African cultural heritage; and,
• Promoting sustainable economic advancement of it's membership

1. The Conference has approved and adopted the constitution of the GEMA Cultural Association at the national and branch levels
2. The Conference has approved and adopted the creation of 80 branches as currently constituted
3. The Conference has approved and adopted the officials elected in the 80 branches during elections held on the 12 th February, 2009
4. The Conference has approved and adopted members nominated and elected to serve in the GCA Supreme Council
5. The Conference has approved and adopted members nominated and elected to serve in the GCA Executive Council
6. The Special Delegates Conference has expressed sincere gratitude to all the founder members who have worked tirelessly to create GCA structures since the first informal conference held in Meru on 31st May, 2009. In particular, the conference recognized the efforts of the interim supreme council, interim executive council, the GCA Executive Director, Secretariat Staff, Members of the Election Board, the returning officers and the delegates for the hard work that has seen all GCA structures develop to full maturity.
7. The Special Delegates Conference noted that GCA is now duly registered according to the laws of the Republic of Kenya and therefore all members are free to undertake GCA activities without fear or prejudice.
8. The conference has condemned in the strongest terms of possible the extra-judicial killings of the youth. The conference has noted from the list of the victims that majority of the targeted youth are from GEMA communities. In this regard, GCA categorically demands that all those implicated as being directly or indirectly responsible for these killings be interdicted immediately pending investigations.GCA has further mandated the Supreme Council to seek audience with His Excellency President Mwai Kibaki in the next 14 days to further re-emphasize the urgency of this matter.
9. The Special Delegates Conference has noted with deep concern that since the appeal that GCA made during the Meru conference, there has been very slow speed of resettling the Internally Displaced Persons to their original homes. GCA is further concerned that while the IDP's are languishing in the camps, they may not be in a position to prepare their farms for the forthcoming rainy season. This may lead to the country continuing to suffer food shortages, at a time when hunger is looming everywhere. GCA wishes to state that it is ready to work with government to ensure that this issue is handled conclusively and the IDP's are restored in their status as of December 27 th 2007.
10. The Special Delegates Conference has expressed concern about the problem of youth unemployment in our region. The conference resolved to mobilize the community to work more towards resolving the youth unemployment problem. Attendant to this, the conference has resolved to work towards eradication of crime, drug abuse, alcoholism and erosion of values among our youth.
11. The conference has expressed commitment to continue working towards the unity of the GEMA community in particular and the Kenyan nation in general. The conference has emphasized on the need to build bridges with other communities and initiate cultural exchanges in order to foster national understanding.
12. The conference noted that the region has untapped economic potential which could be effectively utilized to improve the livelihoods of our people. The conference has resolved that GCA will work with the government in order to initiate viable economic projects that will lead to poverty eradication among our people.
13. The conference noted the critical need for cultural renaissance among the GEMA communities and Kenyans in general. The conference resolved that unless there are efforts to re-build our cultural and moral fabric, it will not be possible for the community and the nation to re-discover the glory of the past. In this regard, the conference has resolved to initiate, various cultural programmes.
14. The conference noted the need to have regional meetings to promote the Organization and help recruit more members.
15. The conference noted the need to ensure that allocation of employment is not discriminating GEMA in Rift Valley on account of being Kikuyu Embu or Meru.
16. The conference noted that GEMA has no stand regarding the future political leadership. We have a President now whom we love and support. When the time comes we shall decide which Kenyan to support to be in government. Those who have declared their intentions have the democratic right to do so.

1. Mount Kenya Jimbo
2. Pwani Jimbo
3. North Eastern Jimbo
4. Nairobi Jimbo
5. North-Rift Jimbo
6. Central-Rift Jimbo
7. South-Rift Jimbo
8. Luo-Nyanza Jimbo
   
9. Kisiiland Jimbo
10. Bukusuland Jimbo
11. Western Jimbo

• Kibaki did his part by focusing Kenyans on who is and who is not his wife on national television. He did injustice to the KCSE results announcement which needed more attention then. The nation needed to debate on failing educational standards but were denied this for the president was in a foul mood.
• Raila and his ODM brigade did their part by calling on Koffi Annan to help them renegotiate of the National Accord for they need more power and political positions for those who are their wives, sons, daughters, immediate relatives and those who are not their wives. This call came three days after ODM pentagon member, William Ruto had told off Koffi Annan for frequent meddling with Kenya Affairs
• The rest of the PNU brigade, in characteristic fashion, told their ODM counterparts to take a walk if they are discontent and the to and fro accusations kept Kenyans busy off their problems. Kalonzo and his party ODM-K, also tried to contribute to the diversion of Kenyan minds but their voice was drowned
  

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• Mwai wa WAMBUI: Why Deny Mke na Binti? (Dec 14 07 Standard Story on Mary Wambui)
  

• Why Anglo Leasing thrills Kibaki’s kitchen cabinet

• Slip of the tongue earns announcer a slap in the face from Kenya's first lady

• Artur to wed Winnie

• Mary Wambui - Wikipedia

• Kibaki sides with Saitoti over blazes

• Lack of confidence in the Kenya judicial system - Kenyans are screaming for post election violence perpetrators to be taken to the Hague because they cannot trust the Kenyan Judiciary. Police justify extra-judicial execution of the Mungiki adherents since once arrested the judiciary is slow or dismiss their cases. Victims of Mungiki cannot trust the judiciary to come to their aid. Many Kenyans shiver at the mention of a dispute resolution through the Kenyan courts which still sways to the side of the deep pocketed.
  
• Lack of a new constitutional dispensation - Martha has been laid back on this front and not devoting as much energy to a new constitution as she has to her presidential bid. The deadline for a new constitution has now been pushed to June 2010 with no glimmer of hope that this will ever be achieved. She is supposed to be the project manager of this critical Kenyan project and should have worked day and night to bring consensus on the divisive constitutional issues, no attempt has been made towards this objective.
  
• Lack of national cohesion - Kenyans are still as tribal as they were one year ago if not worse. That is the reason IDPs cannot be accepted back to their farms. Martha has failed to mobilize Raila and Kibaki to the course of national cohesion.

For Kenya and the countries along the eastern coast of Africa, 2009 will be remembered as the year the real internet landed and the people began to communicate and do business in a way never imagined before.

The long awaited undersea fibre optic cable is coming to connect us to the rest of the world through cheaper telephony, the internet and even video communication. For people who know how to tap into the knowledge economy, this will enable the steroids to surge forward. For those who cannot figure out any opportunity, the digital gap widens.

Internet prices started falling when the telecommunication sector was liberalised a few years ago, with new competing technologies, mostly wireless, offering faster and a cheaper service than the copper wire dial-ups of the then monopoly, Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation.

KPTC which, split into three before Telkom was sold, is not entirely to blame for the high cost of the internet cost and international calls. Until the arrival of these magic cables, which transmit information over long distances using light signals reflected on glass, communicating to the outside world is through those metallic birds high up in the air called satellites.

The only change over time is that we stopped relying solely on the earth stations, such as Longonot, and started using smaller VSAT (very small aperture terminal) dishes.

Now a big race by service providers to offer high-capacity and affordable internet connection is on. Everyone says it is landing the cable in Mombasa soon, and Seacom, which touted the ambitious Africa One project in 1995 to wire the whole continent, seems determined to have a headstart in the raging fibre war.

Seacom’s local boss Jean-Pierre de Leu says he will pop up the champagne bottle on June 27.

THE EAST AFRICAN MARINE SYSTEM (TEAMS)), a consortium in which the government has shares, should be completing its link to the United Arab Emirates in April. The third provider, The Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), which aims to connect the region from South Africa to Djibouti, is expected to land its fibre at about the same time.

One strand of optical fibre (the thickness of human hair) is capable of 20,000 simultaneous voice communication, or 25,000 gigabytes per second, of information — which is enough to carry text of 3 million books in a second.

Fibre technology was discovered by some young men with “obsession for glass” in South Carolina, USA, as early as the 1930s. For a long time it was used by the intelligence cameras and also doctors to spy on the human stomach.

So what are we going to do with what is clearly a broadband boom? People buying bulk internet expect the prices to fall from the current $3,000 (Sh240,000) a megabyte to around $400 (Sh32,000) or less by the end of the year. If this fall in pricing is passed onto the consumers, it should spur e-commerce, e-learning (distant learning), business process outsourcing (BPO) and so on.

The technology pipes will be wide enough for any innovation and imagination. The 2010 World Cup will be kicked in through these pipes using high-definition TV and internet TV, or IPTV.

But perhaps it is the BPO industry and call centres that are expected to rake in money for these multi-million-dollar investments. The current global credit crunch may force outsourcing firms in the developed countries to look for cheaper and new outsourcing destinations beyond the domination of India, the Philippines and China.

To benefit from the new knowledge economy, schools and universities must acquire the internet at subsidised rates, or how else do we expect to grow our scientists if they cannot afford online research?

The laying of overland fibre cables should also be stepped up, otherwise the superhighway will come to a stop in Mombasa and Nairobi.

The government’s effort to connect far-flung areas such as Lokitung, Loitoktok, Mandera and Malindi with fibre under the National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure, NOFBI project is a proactive move that will give many people a chance to create new businesses, skills, electricity and security allowing.

Today I will play the devil’s advocate on Mr Kofi Annan. Without wasting time, I will call him an agent of confusion. He started well, and we respect him for the Peace Accord.

However, his reform agenda is top-down, arrogant and naive. Instead of taking us forward, it is holding us back. And because we respect him, we do not disagree. The result: We remain confused. In fact, we are going round in circles getting irritated and achieving nothing. We are like this puppy in a story told by C.L. James.

In this fable, an old dog saw a puppy chasing its tail and asked, “why are you chasing your tail?” The young puppy replied, “I have mastered philosophy; I have solved the problems of the universe which no dog before me has solved; I have learnt that the best thing for a dog is happiness, and that happiness is in my tail. Therefore, I am chasing it, and when I catch it, I shall be happy.”

The old and seasoned dog stared at the little puppy and responded, “my son, I, too, have paid attention to the problems of the universe in my weak ways and I have formed some opinions.

I have realised that happiness is a fine thing for a dog. And that happiness is in my tail. However, I have also noticed that when I chase after it, it keeps running away from me, but when I go about my business as usual, it follows me.”

Like the little dog, we spent one year chasing the “Annan reforms”. But the more we chased them, the more elusive they became. And the reason is simple: these reforms are not about healing; they are about blaming. They are not about restoration; they are about retribution and sackings.

Like chasing the tail, they are minimalist. Yet what we crave as a country is to be taken from “crisis to cairos”.

Cairos is a place of re-birth, a moment of renewal, transformation and change. And if we pursue this place, the “Annan reforms” will follow -- like the tail follows the dog. But our leaders cannot take us to this cairos if they are in chains. They must liberate themselves from the bondage of Kofi Annan.

I say so because it appears like we have two principals and a grand chairman. Now the grand chairman, Mr Annan, has assumed the position of chief principal. And this is why he is summoning them like school boys to Geneva for a meeting.

To put it mildly, this is bad manners on the part of Mr Annan. Or what do you think?

Back to my assertion that Mr Annan’s reforms are top-down, arrogant and naïve, I beg your indulgence to demonstrate. One, we said a resounding “no” to a local tribunal. We discussed this in our homes, in our worship places and everywhere.

Our verdict was unanimous: Hague Express. Even our greedy MPs agreed with us and voted for The Hague. And then came Mr Annan. This man is not a Kenyan and is not elected. But he disagreed with the will of the people.

His position? Kenyans are wrong! Now he wants a local tribunal by any means necessary. My question to the country is this: who is he? What gives him the right to contradict us and push for what we rejected?

This approach is arrogant and top-down. And I am inspired here by a little book known as Tao Te Ching on leadership wisdom. According to this book, “ . . . all streams flow to the sea because it is lower than they are. Humility gives it power.

If you want to govern the people (therefore), you must place yourself below them. If you want to lead the people, you must learn how to follow them.” For Mr Annan to succeed in his reforms, he must humbly place himself below the people.

If he operates from the heavens in Geneva or wherever, he will fail for a fact! My point? He should not patronise us. He should send the Waki List to The Hague pronto. Or what do Kenyans think?

Two, the naiveté of Mr Annan’s reforms is in the constitutional review and the electoral changes. On the constitution, he has taken us one step backwards with the idea of a panel of experts.

And my hunch is that this panel will fail. From our woolly conditions, I doubt that a new constitution can emerge. More so because constitutions are made in abrasive times of crisis; and in the absence of a crisis, they create one.

Regarding the electoral reforms, I have a question: In the unlikely event of President Kibaki’s inability to execute the mandate of his high office, who would conduct the resultant election? No one.

Samuel Kivuitu is no more, and the entire electoral machinery has been disbanded. In sum, the “Annan reforms” have placed us in a constitutionally reckless place. And although a commission is being concocted by Parliament, I am nervous about it.

It will not be prepared enough to handle the turns and twists of the 2012 elections. In fact, in its naiveté and rawness, it will be manipulated galore. And on this score, our situation could be worse.

But if Mr Annan has outlived his usefulness and is overstepping his mandate, what do we do with him? What do we do with a hero who saved our country from collapse? I have a thought from history.

A brave mercenary soldier saved the city of Siena from an external invader. Thrilled by his brevity, the citizens of this town wanted to reward him handsomely.

No amount of money or honour could compensate his selfless actions. The citizens thought of making him Lord of the City, but even that, they decided was not good enough. At last, one citizen stood before the people’s assembly and suggested “... let us kill him and then worship him as our patron saint”.

So they killed him and worshipped him as a saint. I suggest we do the same thing with Mr Annan. We should “kill” him from our politics and worship him as “saint Annan of Kumasi”!

mutahi@myself.com

March 2, 2009, is the 34th anniversary of the assassination of Hon Josiah Mwangi Kariuki, popularly and affectionately remembered by Kenyans simply as “JM”.

The Elijah Mwangale-led parliamentary committee that investigated the killing, laid the blame on the State security machinery, senior government officials and the presidential aides.

JM is best remembered for his stinging criticism of Kenya’s ruling elite. “A small but powerful group of greedy, self-seeking elite in the form of politicians, civil servants and businessmen have steadily but very surely monopolised the fruits of independence to the exclusion of the majority of the people.

“We do not want a Kenya of 10 millionaires and 10 million beggars.”

Professor Mwangi wa Githinji has immortalised JM’s words by writing a book titled, Ten Millionaires and Ten Million Beggars: A Study of Income Distribution and Development in Kenya, which provides the evidence to reinforce JM’s critique of the Kenyan ruling class.

A FEW YEARS AGO, I ATTENDED THE funeral service of Prof Katama Mkangi at All Saint’s Cathedral, Nairobi. Activists Wafula wa Buke and Aluoka Otieno revisited JM’s murder by addressing Prof Mkangi’s spirit.

“If you see JM, please let him know that his Kenya has now 50 billionaires and 30 million beggars,” they prayed. It is not difficult to know who the billionaires are.

JM is remembered also for his love for the ordinary people and for spearheading a private member’s Bill in Parliament that resulted in the enactment of the Hire Purchase Act. The Bill had sought to protect the middle class who faced oppression from financial institutions engaged in the business’s financing.

On the land issue, JM favoured the imposition of ceilings by individuals, corporations, foundations and religious organisations, the major categories that own most of the land in Kenya. His challenge of powerful local and foreign vested interests must have formed the motives of those who killed him.

JM’s murder shook the very foundations of Mzee Kenyatta’s regime. There were demonstrations against the administration in various parts of the country. Mr Mwai Kibaki was the only Cabinet minister who attended the funeral.

If President Kenyatta had dared attend the funeral he would have needed the security that President Moi required when he attended Dr Robert Ouko’s.

Assassinations confirm to Kenyans that the vested interests in this country will kill leaders who dare stand up for ordinary Kenyans’ lives and livelihoods. The murder of freedom fighters Dedan Kimathi and Pio Gama Pinto is a further example of this political truism. Killing the messenger has never killed the message.

Kenya’s status quo of foreign domination, exploitation and oppression, supported by the self-seeking elite that JM talked about, cannot be sustained for ever and ever. History records that Kenyans have never succumbed to domination and exploitation and that, indeed, they have always fought for their freedom.

This message is currently being conveyed to the grand coalition Government that follows in the footsteps of its greedy and anti-people predecessors since independence.

As we celebrate the International Women’s Day next week, we need also to glorify the spirit, determination and sense of purpose that has been displayed by Ms Rosemary Kariuki (JM’s daughter) and Ms Terry Kariuki, the widow, in leading the family in a struggle for justice for JM.

THE TWO WOMEN ARE GREAT LEADERS and politicians. They have joined broad movements that call for the end of impunity and for the setting up of transitional justice mechanisms. They have over decades built networks of solidarity with other Kenyan patriots seeking justice for JM and other assassinated Kenyans.

They remind us of the mothers of political detainees at Uhuru Park’s Freedom Corner in Nairobi, who did not give up until their sons were released. They remind us of the mothers and grandmothers of the disappeared in Latin America who never gave up until justice was done.

The message for change can never be killed. The messengers have been jailed, detained, forced into exile or even killed. The message from the oppression is that leaders for change are prepared to die for their motherland. Kenyans who need change comprise the majority, and a cabal of local and foreign elites cannot for ever jail this majority.

Change is unstoppable as long as people who believe in true justice, democracy, human and equal rights keep the spirit to fight alive.

Press statement on behalf of Cecil Miller with regard to his nomination and subsequent rejection as chairman of the interim independent electoral commission